Many of the cities described in Invisible Cities, apply to concepts of urban theorists discussed in class. Calvino focuses on specific subjects for each of the fifty-five cities. A few of the cities that correlate with theories studied in the second half of class are Zobeide, Chloe, and Anastasia. Zobeide greatly corresponds with Elijah Anderson’s “Code of the Street,”. Anastasia corresponds with this, as well, but a different piece of it. Anastasia can be associated with the “decent” orientation, and Zobeide with the street families/role of the “man of the house” and cultural exclusion. Chloe can represent the hierarchies of relationships, purposeful associations, and patterns of interaction discussed by Whyte, Putnam, Mumford, and Wirth. …show more content…
Anastasia, while at first giving the idea of Las Vegas almost, capture’s the ideal of descent families. Anderson describes how descent families have a certain hope to work hard and build a successful life. They live in a desire to be a certain way and to accomplish so much, but these high expectations are almost a trap, and can create issues. Anderson describes this with the man’s role in the household. Because so much is expected of him, or society expects him to full take this role, if he is unable to provide, he often leaves. This can greatly affect the family. In a similar way, Anastasia embodies this city of awakening desires; one believes these desires are what one wants, when the desires are really in control. These expectations of roles that are supposed to be taken in the descent family, has control over the family. When one cannot live up to the expectations, they often abandon that life altogether. The family might have good intentions and think that it is for the good of the family to fit into these guidelines, but it does not ensure that their life will become what they hope of …show more content…
Especially during the lecture on urbanism versus agrarianism, we discussed what it means for strangers to see each other on a daily basis, and not know anything about one another. This is contrary to a small town dynamic, with everyone knowing one another. Calvino even mentions eye contact in Chloe, that barely meets, then darts away. In class, we discussed how locking eyes is seen as humanizing in social interactions, and for that gaze to remain socially cues and invitation to interact. So strangers generally avoid this with one another. There are certain normalized behaviors, and those that are social deviance. Depending on the city, a stranger might be surprised by certain deviant appearances on a metro for instance, whereas a person who fits into the normalized appearance may blend in. But there is this question of how this might affect social interaction. Mumford discusses purposeful associations, and one will not voluntarily interact, unless there is a reason for this interaction. Putnam argues that this lack of verbal interaction, yet constant assumptions like in Chloe, is harmful to a city. That an individual no longer cares about connectivity or community. There are certain normalized ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs,’ but like in Chloe, many city interactions include gazes, assumptions, and daydreaming, but little discussion. But these assumptions, like in Chloe, can be purposeful when in an area where one
Anderson argues that common rhythms of societal response can be identified in similar public spaces. It is clear that the way individuals behave in noisy environments where they are constantly avoiding interaction with objects and bodies differs from convivial mingling. Alternatively, Anderson claims that places that exhibit similar patterns of vitality, usage, and organization have similar social traits (Anderson 67). To illustrate this, relatively busy and safe spaces open any frenzy is given slight regulation regardless of whether these spaces are libraries, museums, retail centers, squares, or parks. It appears that these places are marked by the ethos of researched trust in the situation. Mechanisms are used to negotiate bodies and space in these environments. These mechanisms appear to render the familiar strange and the strange familiar. Transactions are carried out in a safe and efficient manner: threat resulting from anticipation of violence, anxiety, and fear is always avoided. The participants have appreciated the benefits consciously and tactful in public places. Social experiences in public places domesticate diversity and complexities in urban places (Burfeind 18).
In Ann Petry’s 1946 novel The Street, the author establishes Lutie Johnson’s distant, discouraging, distracted, and finally dominant demeanor to the urban setting mostly through the use of personification.
Teju Cole’s Open City tells the story of a half-German, half-Nigerian immigrant named Julius, living in New York City in a post-9/11 world. Throughout the book, Julius vacillates between self-awareness and naiveté, someone who thoughtfully observes and seeks connection with others, but only on his own terms. This is more apparent than ever in Chapter Fifteen, where Julius struggles to process the fact that his friend and mentor, Dr. Saito, is dying. In this chapter, he has a short conversation with a fading Dr. Saito, and then, not wanting to be left alone with his thoughts, visits his friend to reflect on that conversation. The talk he has with his friend reflects Julius’ self-absorption and self-imposed isolation, even as he attempts to reach out to other human beings.
The city, Toronto in this case, presents a web of streets and geographical space that threatens to lock its citizens in a certain demarcated way of life and conduct. The four key characters in this narrative - Tuyen, Carla, Jackie, and Oku - each feel blocked in by the constrained locality that they have been born into and each attempts to escape it in his own way.: Tuyen by being an artist, Carla by being a courier; Oku by being a student and Jackie by working in a store. The first two not only attempt to escape by means of their profession using their profession to either flee the spaces and squares (by bike) or transcend it via imagination (by art) but they also adopt profession that go against societal expectations. These societal expectations were created by, and exist within the geographical space they live in. Toronto of the late 20th century had an internalized set of expectations for immigrants and its citizens. The parents of the characters succumbed to it. The protagonists, however, resolved to step out of their boundaries and most of them succeeded.
The birth of a child is a truly magical occurrence. Once a baby’s gender is determined, either through ultrasound, or from the brief examination of a doctor, this small branch of a family’s inheritance, has already been designated with countless burdensome requirements to follow within their limited world. In regards to historical stereotypes, timid, little girls wear pink skirts and hair bows. These girls grow up to become housewives, who cook, clean and babysit the children. Meanwhile, boisterous young boys have the whole world to conquer and rule. The multiple responsibilities of a man are deemed as very important since he is the person who earns the family income. In contrast, Teddy, the main character of “The Fall of a City” by Canadian author Alden Nowlan, is a very inventive and quiet child, who uses his imagination to build himself a utopian escape in his dark, gloomy attic. He uses scrap paper to create the citizens of Upalia and cardboard to fabricate the radiant city of Theodoresburg. Eventually, Teddy’s aunt worries about what Teddy is constantly doing, hidden away from his family. His uncle heads to the attic only to discover the shocking revelation that Teddy has been playing with paper dolls and a doll house. Teddy’s uncle laughs and teases Teddy mercilessly, culminating in Teddy to go against his accomplishments and lose an important part of his individuality. Furthermore, the conflict between Teddy and his uncle is a manifestation of how many adults, such as
A critical analysis of the movie The Blind Side provides examples of the sport topics Race and Ethnicity, community in sport, and sport in parent-child interactions, and the human communication concept of interpersonal. Race and ethnicity in the world of sport varies, an ethnic group or ethnicity is a population group whose members identify with each other on the basis of common nationality or shared cultural traditions. The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics which usually results from genetic ancestry. An example of race is brown, white, or black skin all from various parts of the world, while an example of ethnicity is German or Spanish ancestry
Hitchcock’s notoriously elaborate Rear Window set (under the art direction of J. Macmillan Johnson and Hal Pereira) is so significant because it contains the entirety of the movie. The rest of the city is a mere suggestion, hinted at by cars and pedestrians passing by a narrow strip of alleyway. Therefore, the real analysis of city life that Rear Window explores is that of the relationship between neighbors. In his essay The Metropolis and Mental Life, Georg Simmel comments that the city dweller must avoid overstimulation by practicing “reserve” among others and that,
Scout’s Importance Jean Louise Finch, or Scout, plays a significant role in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The novel explores themes like racism, feminism, and maturation, all intertwined with Scout's life. It talks about her personal growth and development through her narration, which is critical to the story. Scout’s innocence is the main reason why she is important. It’s clear she plays an important role in the story since she is the one we get to experience her life with.
The environment in which people live in demonstrates the societal norms and values of said culture. In Émile Zola’s The Belly of Paris, Florent, a political outcast, returns to Paris only to find that the regime has drastically changed. Napoleon III, a self-elected emperor, has torn down many of the streets of Old Paris to make room for the angular and orderly streets of New Paris as well as the new markets of Les Halles. Throughout the novel, the character’s lives revolve around the various markets in Les Halles and the streets of Paris. Zola uses descriptions of architecture and city planning as well as how people use space within Paris to demonstrate the city’s corruption, signifying that the architecture of a city is a reflection of
Throughout the world of suburbia, there seems to be a persistence of communities who attempt to create a perfect, enclosed world for the whole of the community to live in. By providing for everything that the inhabitants would ever want, suburbia is able to close itself off from those around it that it deems unworthy of belonging. While this exclusivity helps to foster the sense of community, it can also bring with it isolation from the outside, and also from within, and have disastrous results. Throughout the semester, there have been a number of works that have dealt the issue of isolation, but the greatest representation of a work whose physical qualities in its representation of suburbia help to
An article by Wilcox and Wolfinger, Then comes marriage? Religion, race, and marriage in urban America examine the role that religious participation and the norms and behaviors it promotes plays in encouraging marriage among new parents in Urban America. This is the first study to offer a quantitative analysis of the association between religion and marriage among urban mothers.
This illusory book entitled “invisible cities” was published in Italy in 1972, written by a very famous Italian prose writer of the postwar era, Italo Calvino. This book highlights a historical memoir of a well-known Venetian explorer named Marco Polo but focuses around a specific dialogue and a series of stories shared between Kublai Khan, emperor of Mongolia, and his right-hand man Polo in the late 1200’s. This concept of writing emphasizes the aspects of humanity and social consequences in generic city makeup and the way we become trapped in the metaphorical “inferno of living”.
In the Iranian film, Children of Heaven, the city has an affect how people communicate, how they develop. Correspondingly, an urban atmosphere affects what people’s attitudes and cultures are depending on their social status is. There are many somatic setting differences between the unfortunate and the fortunate, for example what Ali’s family wears and where the family lives compared to the gated communities as shown in the film. Moreover, the consequences of the urban environment in a city. Ali and Zhara are definitely exposed to an urban environment that could potentially shape how they act, or who they become as they get older.
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino creates an assortment of paintings through descriptive words and images. While various cities are written similarly, they certainly not the same and each contain their own qualities. The pair of cities that follow that theme is , Zobeide city of desire and Armilla city of Thin. Both cities depict naked women, but each is as different as night and day.
In addition, she extends the idea of eyes upon the street showing that using and watching the street not only guarantees the safety, but it makes the street more attractive. She argues: “the sight of people attracts still other people” (37). Here, she points out the fact that people like watching other people and activities around them. Nobody likes places where there is nothing to see or to do. Interesting streets are attractive because we see different people, and different activities or businesses. In short, the more a street is frequented, the more it is secure and interesting and vice-versa. Safe streets and sidewalks contribute to the economic expansion of the city and the social fulfillment of people. Then we can conclude that safety is a one of primordial factor to the social and economic development of the city.